Guest Designing for Top Dog Dies

It’s always so much fun to get to play with new tools, and let’s face it – die cuts are not only all the rage, but they are by far one of the most versatile things you can have in your crafting arsenal.

When I got the opportunity to do a couple of designs from the wonderful company, Top Dog Dies, I couldn’t wait to get my fingers all inky and my cardstock all clipped. 

The first die I played with was this wonderful background die cut called Leaf Mosaic.  I cut it once out of watercolor paper, then once out of black cardstock.  I used Distress Ink in several different colors with a blending tool to color the watercolor paper die cut.  One trick here is to add in layers.  I kept getting more and more vibrant colors as I added more ink, which was the end result I was going for.  After that, I added the black cardstock die cut to the back side of the colored one, off set just a tad bit to have it peeking out from behind.  The die cuts then were added to some purple colored cardstock.  I tied a bright ribbon to match, then matted it again on green cardstock and then onto the black card.  A small purple rhinestone at the center of the bow finished it off.  Simple, but in my opinion, stunning!

I was then interesting in using the same die a different way.  I stayed with the watercolor paper and cut the background three different times.  I used a craft knife to cut each leaf out of the background, giving me 36 separate leaves.  I had an older leaf stamp that didn’t match the cutout exactly but enough for the idea of veins on the leaves.  I used my watercolor based markers in many different shades to color directly on the stamp, and then stamped each leaf.  Immediately after stamping, I used a brush lightly dipped in water to dab onto the ink to make it bleed just enough to form a water-colored-look.  The edges were treated with Distress Ink to age them just a touch.  Each one is completely different, but that’s the fun of this technique.  I used the leaves to fill up the side of the card, just like a large pile of freshly raked fall leaves.  I kept this card very simple, just adding some tall hand cut letters to spell out “Fall”, colored again with the watercolor based markers.  They were outlined with a glitter pen, and then covered in crystal lacquer.  A small “happy” die cut word fit over the larger letters to complete the card.

The last one I’ll share today was made using the adorable set called Haunted House.  This one has a bunch of cute elements to the set, and I used all of them.  I started my card using my Distress Inks in several different shades to make a night sky.  Then I flicked some watered-down gesso on it with a small brush to create the starry night background.  I die cut the main house out of bright yellow, adding the detailed house cut out of black cardstock right on top.  Using both glitter glue and a white gel pen, I added some sketchy highlights and edges.  I also added a little bit of white chalk ink to the edges to help it pop off the background.  The house sits on a torn piece of black cardstock treated the same way.  The graveyard was easy to complete as it was all part of the die cut set.  I just added a few ink stokes to make them dimensional.  I added the moon, stars and bat die cuts from the set as well, covering them each in glitter glue to add some sparkle.  The sentiment is stamped in chalk ink, then smudged and highlighted with both a glitter pen and a white gel pen.

These were so much fun to play with… and I am thrilled for the opportunity of guest designing for Top Dog Dies.  You should definitely pop over to their website and check out all they have to offer over there.

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs,

Jodi